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Month: March 2015

Quite a few changes going on a cheezquarters central. Both residents have brand new hair dos!

First up, the queen of the castle. Isn’t she beautiful?

Next up, the second in command. I donated that mess of hair to Locks of Love. If you have long hair and are ready for a change, lop off a 10 inch or more pony tail and treat yourself to a brand new look.

Before:

During:

After:

Overall, I really don’t miss the knotty, tangled, rats nest that long hair ultimately becomes, and I also enjoy the greatly reduced washing and “styling” time. Would have liked to have a kept a little more length, but I was just so done growing it. So done. I kinda like the straight look I have in the in between phase, but I’m not straightening my hair every day. Just not happening. My friend and the neighbor of cheezquarters central was kind enough to cut my hair for me, but our schedules did not line up ideally, so the chop had to occur two days before the “real” haircut. Just to confirm I have zero pride and zero fucks left to give, I went to work for two days with unevenly chopped hair. Hardly anyone even noticed the dramatic hair chop, let alone the unevenness, proving once again that most people really don’t care about anyone but themselves. This is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I am a cult member of the Deva cuts. For the uninitiated, it’s a special haircut for those of us “blessed” with curls. I normally go to the salon in LA or NYC (whatever, I don’t want to hear it), but I just couldn’t bear the thought of it, so I tried a place close to home where the stylist was trained in the cult technique. Eh. She was fine, but there’s nothing quite like the real thing. Maybe I’ll alternate and do every other cut with the real deal.

Unrelated to haircuts, we also tried a recipe from our new favorite, Thug Kitchen. Tonight’s main (ok, only) course was 5-spice fried rice with sweet potatoes. Since I only had purple sweet potatoes on hand, everything had a slightly purple touch. Overall, this dish was just OK. i think it needed a little more flavor. Maybe some more spice or vinegar/soy sauce combo. I’ll probably dump some more soy and a bunch of salt on the leftovers when I eat them. Also, sweet potatoes are a pain in the ass to peel, cut, and cook. I followed the recipe exactly this time, but next time, i’ll boil them in advance to get the damn skins off. If you haven’t tried Chinese 5 spice before, it’s good stuff. A little goes a long way, be forewarned. If you try this recipe, you need a little more oil and a lot more water than the recipe calls for. Or maybe my potatoes just weren’t very watery, but I added a ton of extra water. Due to the greens in here, I won’t be freezing the leftovers, so I’ll be choking down a lot of vegetables this week.

The purple main event (what a chopping pain!):

The super orange carrots:

Here’s the part I like the least, the green, leafy stuff. But i choked it down:

The purple goodness all cooked up:

The finishing touches:

And the reward:

Until next time, a few cute dog sleeping shots to send you on your way. The other dog is a friend of the editor-in-chief who sometimes stays with us.

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Yes cheezeheads you read that right! Your friendly neighborhood carbivore bought kale. At Whole Foods. I mean, could I be any more of a walking, breathing stereotype. I felt like a lost a chunk of my soul that day. I justified the whole thing because it was for a recipe in the cookbook that actually makes you want to cook, Thug Kitchen. I can’t recommend this book enough, even for just sheer entertainment value. I got one for Little Miss Sunshine for Christmas and after she read us a few pages, I decided I had to have a copy for myself as well.

I normally don’t go in for health sauce like kale. I eat enough things I don’t love in the name of “health”, but kale. Just gross. But this recipe looked pretty good and had other redeeming qualities, like peanut sauce, so I decided to just go in for the kale, because they specifically instruct you not to substitute ingredients. Plus, the editor-in-chief likes kale, so I figured if nothing else, she can eat it. (Yes, my dog likes kale, back to the stereotype).

Another reason I went for the recipe is it also called for tempeh. For the uninitiated, tempeh is another item you can purchase at Whole Foods, if you swing that way. It’s a soy-based meat substitute that’s more interesting than tofu. But I think tempeh is funny because at this hippie restaurant in Tahoe, my dad, not knowing what it was, ordered a tempeh burger. My dad is so not a tempeh person. Seriously. Not. A. Tempeh. Person. By the time anyone realized what happened, it was too late. So we just didn’t say anything and hoped for the best. He was pretty hungry, so he ate it, but yeah, he’ll never live that one down.

Like my 70s plates I got in a thrift store in college for $5? I like them because the whole set is made for reasonable portion sizes.

All in all, it turned out OK. I grabbed the wrong jar from the fridge and used extra garlic instead of ginger so I’m sure that has something to do with it. Next time I’ll make more peanut sauce, it seemed a little dry. If you want the recipe, let me know. Or buy the book.